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A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Margo's Gift

Celebrating might not be exactly the way I'm looking at it, but I've got a birthday coming up on Friday January 30th. That next year of my life seems to come along annually on that same date and I haven't figured any way to slow down my aging process. I won't say how old I'll be on this next birthday, I'll just say it's an age that I once considered old. Funny, it no longer seems old to me anymore. My body might be creaky now, but my mind still seems young as it ever was though maybe a bit more wary and conservative.

My wife is planning on taking me out for dinner for my birthday. That's it--no parties for me and that's fine with me. When I was a kid I expected a birthday party. After I entered adulthood the parties were kind of cool if they happened, though to my recollection I don't think there were many of those. Now a birthday dinner with my wife is enough.

Thinking back on birthdays I was remembering parties that I had when I was a kid. I recall having them, but I don't remember any of them specifically and I don't remember any of the gifts that I received at those parties. Well, there was this one birthday. It was my thirteenth birthday if I remember correctly. We were living in Crown Point, Indiana and I was in junior high school.

During that time of my life I didn't have too many close friends and most of my school friends didn't live in the neighborhood where I lived. Several friends and school chums were invited to my birthday party, but only a handful showed up. One of those was a cute blonde girl who lived in a house on the next street over from where I lived. I could see her house from my bedroom window. Her name was Margo.

Margo must have gone to the same school that I did, but actually I don't know. I didn't know Margo that well, but I wanted to know her so I told my mother I wanted to invite her to my party. From what I'd heard, Margo came from a blended family. She had a step-sister who was about the same age as she was but that girl was kind of mean so I avoided her. But Margo seemed sweet, quiet, and intellectual. Maybe it was the glasses she wore that made her seem smart, but I couldn't say for sure whether she was smart or not. All I knew was that she was cute.

On party day I was thrilled to see that Margo was among the few guests who showed up. Trying to remember now I don't recall anything about what we did at that party or who else was there. I just remember Margo. Being very shy with girls, I'm not sure that I even spoke to Margo, but I was thrilled to have her at my party.

Then came time for me to open my presents. Now so many years later I couldn't tell you what gifts anyone gave me except for the gift from Margo. No one said anything at the time, but I'm sure the other kids thought it was an odd gift. Later my mother pointed out what a weird gift it was and that essentially her mother must be pretty cheap to have sent along such a gift with her daughter. To me though it was a wonderful gift.

What I found in the crudely wrapped package that Margo handed me was a simple little homemade doll made of cloth with a face drawn on it. It was almost more like a beanbag than a doll. I think it's quite possible that Margo had made it herself since it was so simple. The doll was accompanied by a "birthday card" that was a piece of white paper with a message scrawled in various colors of crayon.

To my recollection the message said something to the effect of:

This little man will always be with you To bring you luck and protect you. Always keep him near.

For years I did have that little man and the card. I've since lost track of the doll and the card. The doll is probably gone, but I have a feeling that the card remains somewhere among my packed away momentos. Most importantly I remember that cute girl who gave me the gift. She is only a vague memory since I don't know that I ever saw her again after that. I'm not sure what happened to her--I think she moved away a short while after that party.

That little man stayed near for a good while. I can't say that he gave me good luck or protected me in any way, but I've had a blessed life. And that little man has always been with me in my memory. Maybe a dumb cheap gift in the eyes of some, but it was a meaningful gift to me.

Thanks toAngela Brown for reviving this memory for me. What gifts have been the most memorable to you? Has there been a person who meant something special to you whom you never got to know like you might have liked to? Have you ever given another person a homemade gift that may have seemed strange to others?

22 comments:

That story brought tears to my eyes. I wonder if Margo is still making dolls? I think it's a sweet gift. I've been given a lot of gifts that were meaningful...too many to list really. I hope the people I give homemade gifts to like them; they seem to anyway. As for your other question, I'd have to say no for me....but it worked out swimmingly well for my husband who loved & carried a torch for me since he was 16 and then tracked me down 30 years later on Facebook 4 years ago.

That devotion of your husband after all those years is pretty sweet. It's weird how a lot of people look down on homemade gifts and think the giver is being cheap or something negative about it, and I guess it does depend on what the gift is, but I think it's much more meaningful than something they've just picked up without too much thought or even re-gifted from a stockpile of things they didn't want. I'd like to know whatever happened to Margo--she seemed like a sad girl or that her family life was not so good.

Most memorable gift: for my birthday after we were married, Pete had the wheels and tires I'd wanted on my Mustang that the men had told me couldn't be put on, put on it. Just took a set of special shocks to do it.

Yes, I've known several people over the years I'd have liked the opportunity to know better.

And one year I took a bouquet of Buford Holly to a women's Christmas gift exchange, because I had no money to buy one and really wanted to go.

Lovely story, Arlee! There are a couple of people from my high school days that I'd like to re-connect with. However, as they are women, it is most likely they have married and adopted their husband's name.The best gift I gave my husband of 10 years was to give up smoking. He was a high school classmate, but we lost contact since we left school in 1965. We met again at my father's 36 years later - that was almost 15 years ago. He was willing to take me on even though he hated smoking, so, on the way to him from interstate (Australia), I just stopped smoking after more than 30 years of it.

My mother did the same for my father before they got married. She'd only been smoking for a few years though. I stopped smoking after I started dating my current wife and we were getting serous about relationship. She didn't ask, but I did it because I felt like I no longer needed to smoke.

What a fantastic story! I think you're right to not search Margo out. Part of the wonder of the story, (for us the story, for you the memory) is not knowing anything for sure about her beyond your birthday party. At least that's how I see it. Some things are better left where they are. Thanks for sharing this great memory with us Lee, and by the way, you have the same birthday as my middle son! Happy birthday!

What an ingenuous gift! Margo--I wonder where she is now, and if she ever knew how her gift impacted you.

No special b-day parties as a child, in fact no parties at all. In 6th grade, though, my mother had me bake cupcakes (from scratch) and make "burnt icing" (?). It turned out that there were for my class. I was embarrassed, but secretly very pleased.

I sure Margo never knew about how I felt about the gift and I think she might have been embarrassed or ashamed about it. Was "burnt icing" intentional or that just a name for something that's really good?

This is a very sweet and heartwarming memory. I keep telling you, IMO this is where your published work should come from. This is beautiful stuff.

That said, I think homemade gifts are the best. I realize not everyone can produce a homemade gift that they want to give to someone, but for me a homemade gift is not only the object itself but the gift giver giving something of themselves.

I'm not sure Margo was so much giving of herself as she was just giving what she was able because her mother wouldn't go out and buy something. Margo seemed to have a difficult family life, but that is also based on hearsay since I didn't know much of anything about her family.

I am working on a project, but I need to narrow it down. There is so much I want to say. This blog helps me.

Every gift is special, simply because it is given. Happy Birthday a couple days early, Lee. Dinner with your wife sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate. Your story about Margo is sweet. I'll bet you still have the doll hidden in a box with the card somewhere. Treasures like that have a way of hiding and reappearing when we least expect it.

Tell your story. Express your thoughts. We want to hear from you. This blog no longer accepts comments from "Anonymous"--That guy is really starting to bug this blog. If you want to leave me a comment then please register if you aren't already--it's easy to do and I really want to hear from you.

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A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
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